


Pain Does Not Knock Politely

by Creazy



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hereditary illness, I only know how to write angst so this is great for me, I'm not a doctor so don't @ me, deaf character (Progression), degenerative illness, mentions of vomiting but nothing is ever graphic or detailed because gross, no beta we die like men, or at least a hopeful ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-19 12:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22111015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creazy/pseuds/Creazy
Summary: Arthur Broussard had a really weird experience at the New Years' party. He suddenly couldn't hear anything. The next day he is grateful to realize he can hear again, but things aren't always what they seem. He doesn't know what happened or what's happening, but it's not stopping so he's going to have to do something, but the last thing he wants is for anything to change.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	1. Hangover From Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Someone said they wanted someone to write some Arthur stuff, so I decided to give it a try. I'm gonna try to finish this fic before the season starts on Monday, because I know how mean you all can be about stuff that isn't canon. Please be nice. I've never written for Skam or Skam France and I only took 2 years of French so my knowledge of French culture is essentially nonexistent. So keep that in mind. Thanks for reading! <3 The notes at the end have a poll on character names for the next chapters.

Arthur woke up. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet but his consciousness was well aware of his headache he was experiencing. Not near as bad as it was last night, but enough to make him wish he was asleep again. He grabbed his phone to look at the time.

It was 1:30 in the afternoon. Upon reading the time he quickly was reminded he hadn’t eaten yet. So he pulled himself up, stretching a bit. He wasn’t sure what happened the previous night at the party, but he felt hungover. Now, that could also have been attributed to the alcohol, but who’s to say at this point.

He grabbed his glasses and stood up, but soon as he stood up it felt like he had just gotten off a boat. He grabbed ahold of the bed frame before he fell over.

‘What the hell did I drink?’ Arthur thought to himself. He had been hungover before but this was a whole new level.

Once he had gained his balance and felt confident that he could walk without falling flat on his face he straightened himself up and slowly walked out of his room. He could hear his mother and his siblings in the other room. He gave a momentary thanks to the cosmos that he could hear them. Last night had been weird.

“Arthur? Is that you?” His mother called.

Her voice pierced his brain making the headache throb a bit. He slowly made his way into the living room where she was sitting and braiding his little sister’s hair. He gave a slight wave to his family as he entered.

“How was your night? You look terrible. How much did you have to drink?” She asked.

Every word caused a throbbing in his head. He momentarily grabbed his ears to muffle the sound.

“Everything okay, sweetie?” His mom asked with a softer voice.

He uncovered his ears. Headache back in full swing.

“Yeah I must have overdone it last night. I’m sorry. I think I’m going to take some medicine and go back to sleep.” He said turning to leave the room.

“Did you come home early? I thought I heard you come in but it wasn’t even half past midnight yet. Did something happen?” The concern in her voice was there, but he knew she was just being attentive.

“Yeah I just wasn’t feeling well after a while. I came home right after midnight. It was fun though. I’m going to go back to bed.” He said before walking into the kitchen to grab a drink.

He went to grab the cup out of the cupboard and as he held out his hand he noticed how shaky he was. He tried to ignore it and grabbed a cup of water. He then headed over to grab some pain killers before going back to bed. As he was opening the bottle he suddenly had a roaring in his ears. It sounded like a jet engine taking off or the sounds from a microphone caught in high winds. He dropped everything he had, spilling the water all over the floor, and covered his ears. No amount of pressure was helping. He couldn’t stop the roaring.

It was completely different from the night before. He started to notice that he was swaying and he quickly moved his hands out to brace his fall. He had no sense of direction. All of his senses seemed to have momentarily gone crazy. He fell into the wall and managed to catch himself by holding on to a towel rail. He then slowly lowered himself to a sitting position. His pajama pants were getting wet from the water he had accidentally spilled on the ground. His head fell into his hands as he sat feeling like the whole room was spinning. It felt like a really terrible carnival ride and he just wanted to get off.

Suddenly he realized he wasn’t feeling so good. He pulled his hands from his face and quickly made a move toward the toilet, just barely making it in time before he emptied his stomach into the bowl.

He didn’t hear his mother come in behind him. When she touched his back he jumped. He then leaned into the bowl for another time before he could even look at her. It sounded like she was saying something, but the wind tunnel that he was hearing was overpowering everything. He leaned his head on the toilet, unsure what his next move should be. It still felt like the room was doing cartwheels and his stomach wasn’t much better.

His mother grabbed a towel to clean up the spilled water on the floor before she kneeled down to check his temperature with her hand. He wasn’t hot so she assumed he had partied a little too hard the night before. She already had her lecture prepped about drinking so much, but first, she just wanted to help her boy.

She stroked his hair a couple of times as he took one last heave into the toilet. She stood up to grab him another glass of water and then moved to get him some new pajamas from his room.

By the time his mother had returned he had gained a little composure and the room had gone back to a slight sea-sick motion, but it was far from the incapacitating swirling effect it had before. The roaring had gone from wind tunnel to an obnoxious buzz. When she returned she looked at him and he saw her lips move but he didn’t hear what she said.

He shook his head trying to clear out the buzzing and then focused again.

She knew he probably wasn’t paying attention so she leaned down to offer the glass of water, which he took with shaky hands. He leaned back against the wall and took a few sips of the water.

“What are we going to do with you?” She said, running her hands through his hair to get it out of his face.

Arthur didn’t hear her. He didn’t even notice really. He was focusing on not throwing up the water he was consuming.

After a few minutes of sipping water from the bathroom floor he felt like things had stabilized enough that he could stand up. He handed his glass back to his mother that was sitting quietly on the toilet seat occasionally moving away the stray hairs that fell into his face.

“I brought you some new pajamas.” She said as she moved to let him stand. She reached over to the counter to grab them.

He could hear that she said something but he still couldn’t make out what she said. So he looked at her confused.

She just gave a small smile and handed them the pajamas.

“Put them on.” She said pushing them into his hands. She had no idea that he couldn’t actually hear her.

“I’ll be right back.” She said before she left the room.

He started to panic again. It was just like the night before. He couldn’t hear anything. The buzzing had seemingly dulled and he was left with a ringing and a muffled hum.

“Mom.” He called, but he couldn’t hear himself either.

“MOM!” He called louder. The panic began to rise. He could feel it start in his stomach and slowly the heat of anxiety crept up into his chest.

What was going on?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mom knows. The doctor has been called. What’s next?

In bed once again. He looked at his phone to see text messages he had missed. Some of them just saying Happy New Year. A couple of them asking where he went last night. He was so exhausted from everything that had happened that he didn’t even want to respond. He just wanted to cry. 

After a few more hours of sleep he began feeling better. The room wasn’t spinning anymore. He wasn’t sick to his stomach. His head wasn’t pounding. He felt much better and he was so thankful to be past that hangover. 

Suddenly there was a faint buzzing sound. He couldn’t tell what it was. He looked around and realized he was getting a call. He picked up his phone to answer, sleep still clouding his mind. 

“Hello?” He answered sleep heavy in his voice, but his heart dropped suddenly. He couldn’t hear himself. Well, he could, but it sounded as though he was underwater trying to listen to someone above him. It was his own voice, it shouldn’t be this way. The panic began to build inside of him and he realized that he was still on the phone. He checked to see if the call was still going. 15 seconds, it read. He couldn’t hear anything from the other end. 

“Hello!” He said louder. Still feeling as though his voice was a mile away. 

“Hey, man! Is the call bad? I just asked where you went last night. Alexia said you weren’t feeling well or something.” Basile said from the other side of the phone. 

Unfortunately, Arthur was still unable to tell what was going on. He quickly hung up. The panic overwhelming him. 

“MOM!” He called, unsure if his voice was even working. 

“Mom’s not home, bro.” His older brother, Gabriel, called back from his seat in front of the tv, controller in hand. “She went to the store.”

Arthur didn’t hear this. Not even a little.

“MOM!!” He yelled again. 

Gabriel took a deep sigh. “DUDE SHE’S NOT HERE!” He yelled back, trying to stay focused on his game.

Arthur was just about to yell again when he saw his little sister, Eloise, walk in the room. She was only 7. 

“Mom went to the store, Arthur.” She said.   
Arthur leaned back against the wall, knees pulled up to his chest, and head buried in his hands. 

“What’s wrong, Arthur?” She asked, but he didn’t move from his position. 

She crawled up on his bed with him and tapped him on the shoulder. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked again, moving to sit next to him. 

He lifted his head. As she got closer he could tell she was speaking. It was distant and cloudy just like his own voice, but it was there. At this point, there were tears on his cheeks and a rock in the pit of his stomach. 

Something was wrong.

After a few minutes sitting on her brother’s bed Eloise heard the door. She jumped off the bed and ran to get her mom. 

“Momma, something’s wrong with Arthur.” She said as she grabbed her mother’s hand and pulled her toward his room. 

“Hold on. Let me put the groceries away.” Her mother said slipping from her daughter’s grasp. She knew that Arthur wasn’t feeling well, but there wasn’t much she can do for him if he’s hungover that bad. The only solution is time. 

“No. Momma. You have to come.” Eloise said grabbing her mother’s hand again and pulling toward the room. 

“Okay. Okay. I’m coming let me just put these down.” Her mother said placing the bags on the kitchen floor before letting the girl guide her down the hallway. 

“See momma? Something’s wrong.” She whispered when they got to the door.

Arthur was still in the same position as before. Sitting on his bed against the wall, knees to chest, and head buried in his hands. His mother could hear quiet sobs coming from the room. 

“Okay, you run off and go do something. I’ll see what’s wrong. It’ll be okay.” She said with a half smile as she gently guided her daughter away from the door.

Once she had left she turned her attention back to her son. She entered the room quietly and shut the door behind her. 

“What’s wrong, my love?” She said making her way over to the bed but he didn’t move. 

She took a seat on the bed reaching over to touch his arm as she did. What she didn’t expect was for Arthur to jump out of his skin.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you. What’s wrong?” She said as she wiped a tear from his cheek. 

All Arthur could hear was a buzz. He knew she was saying something but he didn’t know what. He became angry. Frustrated because he didn’t understand what was going on, scared because he didn’t know what to do, and helpless because he couldn’t make it stop.

———————————————

The drive home from the hospital the next day was silent for both of them. His mother was trying to hold herself together and Arthur was just sitting in stunned silence. A possible inner ear disease. Symptoms are tinnitus, nausea, vertigo, and hearing loss. 

The doctors had run a menagerie of tests. Notes had been passed back and forth. He almost wanted to laugh at how dumb it seemed to have a doctor type out a message for him just to ask some dumb question about his eating habits or something. He was grateful his mother did most of the talking, even if he knew fuck-all of what she said. He wasn’t in a panicked frenzy anymore. He just felt numb and dissociated. This wasn’t real. It didn’t feel real. Even spending like 24 hours in the hospital didn’t feel real. It felt like a bad dream he was just itching to escape. His phone had been blowing up but he had no desire to talk to anyone. He didn’t want to think about that. His mom had suggested texting his friends just to take his mind off of everything but he wasn’t in the mood. He just sat in the room staring blankly at the walls and listening to the high pitched buzz that he couldn’t get to stop.

Within 48 hours he had cut himself off from everyone. He wasn’t in the mood for anything. He dodged texts and calls made him want to vomit because every time his phone rang he was reminded of everything that was happening. He had never felt a depression like that before. He was always the one to be energetic and ready for anything. Things have changed though and he didn’t know how to deal with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter is all about him and the boys. I’ll post it in the morning. Thanks!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I need names for the brother, sister, and mother in this series. Leave me some ideas in the comments! I don't know enough about French names, so I need some help.
> 
> I actually really liked writing this chapter. I feel like Arthur is the one that doesn't get the love he deserves.  
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated.


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